While classification is guided by these parameters, syllable type, an important consideration in beginning reading, is not considered as part of the leveling system.
The What Works Clearinghouse reported on two randomized studies of LLI with students in kindergarten through second grades and found small effects (0.22) from measures other than the assessment used within the F&P Text Level Gradient system.
[7] A meta-analysis of 21 studies found that the F&P Text Level Gradient system did not lead to effective reading fluency interventions.
[8] Matthew Burns, a reading researcher at the University of Florida, has studied assessments within the F&P Text Level Gradient system and found that they result in 54% total accuracy and correctly identify low readers only 31% of the time.
[11] The defendants are the educational publishing company Heinemann, as well as authors Lucy Calkins, Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, and others.